Soft & Chewy Vanilla Butter Cookies

The title is Vanilla Butter Cookies, right? Take a moment to look again. Yes, it is, isn't it. So, now that we've established that, you want to know something funny? There's no butter in these cookies. Think I'm fooling? Look at the recipe! HOWEVER...the word "butter" does appear...in the form of butter flavored Crisco. Yup. Cheating, you say? Yes, I know real butter is almost always better, but in these cookies, the Crisco is the best way to achieve that "soft and chewy" feature that is so important (if you are a soft, chewy cookie person like me and not one of those people who like hard, crunchy cookies whose only redeeming purpose is to be dipped in milk, coffee, or cocoa...okay, sorry, I'll get back to the not-in-parentheses part of the post...). Where were we? Oh, yes. Crisco. It's perfect. 

From my first taste of the dough to my first bite of soft, warm cookie it reminded me of something. Sort of like the way chocolate chip cookie dough tastes- before you add the chocolate. When I was a little girl I always tried to sneak a spoonful of cookie dough (yes, we all ate loads of cookie dough and no one ever got sick) before my mom stirred in the chips. 

As much as I love chocolate, I also love the sweetness of the plain dough without the chunky chips to interrupt the smoothness. I've always been tempted to whip up chocolate chip cookies and leave the chocolate out altogether! This dough, though perhaps a bit more buttery, reminded me a lot of what that would be like.

The next time you're craving a simple, mild sweet to go with your glass of milk, I suggest you whip up a batch of these buttery cookies- I promise you'll fall in love with them like we have!

Soft and Chewy Vanilla Butter Cookies

(printable version)

makes about 3 dozen

adapted from Dine and Dish

1 cup butter flavored Crisco

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 TB water

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375.

In large mixing bowl, beat together Crisco, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, water and vanilla until well mixed.

Add flour, baking soda, and salt to mixing bowl and mix well.

Cover and refrigerate dough for 30 min.

Roll dough into 1 in. balls; slightly flatten and place on cookie sheet.

Bake 7-8 min. or until light brown. Do not overcook- take them out when they still look slightly under cooked. Allow them to cool and firm up on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack.

Source: Dineanddish.net